Weekly/biweekly Michigan legislative action thread
Posted on 03/14/2013 6:05:34 AM PDT by Kaslin
Since the Motown sound went silent -- except on oldies stations -- and General Motors and Chrysler (but not Ford) required life support from Washington, there has been little to recommend Detroit, Mich., to visitors, much less its residents.
The recent conviction of Kwame Kilpatrick, the former mayor of Detroit, on multiple charges, including racketeering, fraud and extortion, adds another insult to the city's injury, increasing its misery.
During the mid-20th century, Detroit was a vibrant city with a population of almost 2 million. Today, it stands near ruin. The number of residents has now been estimated at just over 700,000. According to the Chicago Tribune, "The city has a crushing debt of $14 billion, and a budget deficit of as much as $327 million. The pay and benefit structure of public employees can't be sustained. ... The city could run out of cash in a matter of weeks." And yet the city's main courthouse reports having $280 million worth of uncollected fines and fees.
The state plans to send in an emergency manager to try and repair Detroit's finances. It might take an exorcist or faith healer.
The initial response to all of this sad news was denial. Some tried to change the subject by playing the race card. The majority of those who live in Detroit are African American. Michigan's governor, Rick Snyder, is white, as are a majority of the state's residents. But crime, corruption, malfeasance and misfeasance are not exclusive to a single race. Ask New Jersey. The problem for Detroit is something no one wants to address: one-party rule. And that would be the Democratic Party.
While the road to Hell may be paved with good intentions, the road to corruption and municipal failure seems to have been paved by Detroit's Democratic monopoly. Political monopolies invite bribes, kickbacks, misuse of funds, cronyism and a sense of entitlement.
Many businesses have fled Detroit for the usual reasons, including crime. In 2009, Time Magazine reported the city's functional literacy rate was near 50 percent and its unsolved murder rate was nearly 70 percent.
The Detroit News reported last month that nearly half of the city's 305,000 properties failed to pay their 2012 tax bills. "Some $246.5 million in taxes and fees went uncollected," reports the News, "about half of which was due Detroit..." (The other half went to county, schools and other public entities.)
Michigan law provides for an emergency manager with the authority to prevent local elected officials from making financial decisions. That person also would be granted the power to alter labor contracts, shut or privatize departments and, reports The New York Times, "...even recommend that Detroit enter bankruptcy proceedings, a possibility that experts say raises the prospect of the largest municipal bankruptcy in the nation's history, at $14 billion worth of long-term obligations."
Altering labor contracts caused quite the controversy in neighboring Wisconsin, but it had to be done. Democrats there (and in Detroit) had given away too much of the store in exchange for votes.
Shrinking government and encouraging personal responsibility can be a win-win and not only for Detroit. "We can't go on like this," is starting, however slowly, to become clear to more and more people.
In contrast to the city government, the private sector in Detroit is doing well. "Booming" is the word used in a March 5 New York Times front-page story. That, too, has accentuated in some minds the city's racial divisions because the young entrepreneurs and artists moving back into the city are mostly white. They have revived parts of downtown, but that revival has not spilled over into blighted African-American neighborhoods.
Some years back, Detroit leaders announced a "Renaissance" for the city. There's a hotel there by that name, but that's about it. Detroit needs more than a Renaissance. It needs a revival, but that is not likely to happen as long as Democrats maintain their political stranglehold.
“has been little to recommend Detroit, Mich., to visitors”
My recommendation would be to stay the hell out of it!
commie legacy
I lived in Ann Arbor for a couple of years in the 80s. My only positive memory of my several visits to Detroit was the Detroit Gran Prix.
“The problem for Detroit is something no one wants to address: one-party rule. And that would be the Democratic Party.”
Well... there you have it.
We have TWO parties for a reason... and when they function properly.... things work!!
Political monopolies DON’t work!
Given a choice of vaporizing Ann Arbor or Detroit, I’d take out Ann Arbor. It’s the heart of Michigan liberalism.
Evacuate the city. Raze it. Pave it over. Place a single memorial in the center saying this is dedicated to the unions, black racism, and political corruption that destroyed a once great city.
And even that is a bit misleading - it’s not just one party rule that’s the problem,
but Demik Rat party rule that is the problem.
Don’t pave it. Turn it into productive farmland.
Best thing that could probably happen to Michigan
That is even better
It's PEOPLE. People stink... they are greedy, unscrupulous, unprincipled and if given unlimited power and unlimited resources... all PEOPLE forget themselves.
The founding fathers of America knew this and worked a Constitution the best way they could to pre empt this kind of activity for ANYONE or for any group.
We have deviated TOO far from this understanding.
Evacuated the city? Where are all the thugs going to go? Not Houston, we don’t want them.
Let them stay there and shoot each other.
Just stay on the interstate and only head off it to go to Windsor, Canada.
Outside Stuttgart, GE is a large hill composed of crushed rubble from bombing during WWII. I recommend Detroit be evacuated, brought to the ground, and a mountain built. Call it "Mt. Motown."
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